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She lifted her arms above her head, splaying her fingers against the stars as her hair whipped around her. She should be screaming in fear. It’s what most people would be doing at this juncture. Instead she imagines this is what flying must feel like and she closes her eyes and smiles.
Because if she was going to die, she wasn’t going to die afraid.
Lightning cracked across the a cloudless sky and the smile painted on red, red lips wavered just a bit before her ribs were crushed by guns of steel and she felt like her lungs were trying to press out of her chest. On the upside her life expectancy had just tripled, at the very least.
Thor landed, calling his team in for help, the curvy brunette office admin limp in his arms, her breathing more of a wheeze than a sigh. His bright blues caught her darker blues and she smiled again, like she’d known all along he’d be there to catch her. She wanted to tell him not to worry so much, the pensive cast to his eyes was gonna ruin his Barbie Doll image. She couldn’t seem to talk, though.
“I need a medic!” The Norse god of lightning could bellow across a packed bar at happy hour without effort. The medics rushed forward.
“Darcy? Can you understand me?” The Black Widow was there, shoving through the crowd while the rest of the team dealt with Doom.
“Yeah” The brunette’s eyes fluttered and there was more wetness in her mouth than there should have been. There was also a coppery tang, never a good sign. One did not ignore Natasha when she was demanding answers, though, so she focused on the statuesque redhead.
“I’m saving my reports so you can turn them in for me.” Natasha informed the younger woman, easily stepping around the medics as they arrived and started strapping the younger woman onto a gurney.
“The best.” Darcy’s words were cut off as the medics placed a mask over her mouth and nose, calling in the pneumothorax and loading her into the ambulance.
Hours later, after the fallout of the shenanigans of one Doctor Von doom, the Avengers were huddled around the Stark living rooms. They weren’t allowed to visit Lewis yet, so instead they dealt with things the best way they knew how.
Tony had a tumbler of very old scotch in his hand, refilled for the third time now. Bruce was sitting across the table from the billionaire, almost mirror image, but with tea in hand. Thor sat quietly, his face drawn with whatever dark thoughts had invaded his thoughts. Clint and Natasha were systematically cleaning the weapons they had used in battle, carefully going over each and every one for damage. Then there was Steve, sitting on the kitchen counter and drawing a young woman with wild curls and a dismissive sneer. A woman who had pulled her tazer on Doom when he’d had the temerity to attempt to use her as a hostage. She’d been thrown from the top of a building for her effort. It was impressive as hell.
“Sir, Ms. Lewis has just been checked by her doctor. It appears she is stable and will likely be moved out of ICU in the morning.” JARVIS informed Tony, his voice holding just a hint of relief. The AI was as fond of Darcy as everyone else was.
“And visitors?” Tony asked, draining his tumbler once more.
“Agent Coulson managed to find his way into her room moments after her doctor left.” JARVIS’ voice was now just this side of surprised. He was very good at vocal inflection for all he didn’t actually have vocal chords.
“Very enterprising of him.” Tony agreed, a hint of a smile on his face as the man stood up to refill his glass.
Darcy had been rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. Jane had heard the news, went straight to the hospital, and then declared herself the only living relative as well as the younger woman’s medical power of attorney. The truth to those statements were questionable at best, but the petite scientist had managed to bully the hospital staff into doing her bidding. That was all that really mattered.
It had taken almost half an hour for Phil to clean up things enough so he could head to the hospital. Sadly for Phil, Jane had firmly ensconced herself by that point and refused to acknowledge the agent’s existence. It wasn’t that she didn’t care, it was just that she was told one visitor and she wasn’t giving up her spot. The diminutive scientist might have mentioned something about Phil deserving to wait this time, as well.
JARVIS, of course, was happily monitoring the situation in case things got too out of hand and relaying all information to Tony at the tower. He had also taken the liberty of keeping an eye on the security camera’s, news feeds, and setting all of Darcy’s favorite programs to record so she could watch them during her internment.